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Exactly my thinking every time I read about them. It's one idea thought up by one scientist. It's so human of us to think some advanced race would build a giant
by fullstackchris 5y ago
Exactly my thinking every time I read about them. It's one idea thought up by one scientist. It's so human of us to think some advanced race would build a giant capture device around a star... did anyone stop to ask that if a civilization could do that, they would likely already have technology that could (to our eyes) generate power out of thin air? Nope, caveman brain build big wall around star to get ALL power!
- brnt 5y agoThere are other benefits. The internal surface area of a sphere with radius 1AU has so much area that its unlikely any spacefaring civilization would ever spread to that many planets. It would be enough to have billions of versions of your civilization/species with room to spare, AND have them all be able to communicate without light years of transmission delays, never mind time and cost of travel, and thus drift apart. Then, one has the opportunity to otherwise live in very similar circumstances as the planet one evolved on. Looking at our attraction to nature I would guess any species would think of this as a benefit, and would prefer it over terraforming faraway hostile environments or inhabiting cramped space cabins. So yes, if you have the ability to make a Dyson sphere, I can very well imagine that you would.
- Apocryphon 5y agoWhat if by the time you get to that level of technology, you no longer need that much physical space? I don't even mean in a soft sci-fi "evolutionary progress means becoming energy beings", I mean a hard sci-fi "advanced civilizations just digitize themselves into a virtual reality simulations."
- est31 5y agoYou won't need physical space but you'd still need energy to run that VR simulation.
- brnt 5y agoFor the same reason we eat free range X, hike about in the untouched mountains, like to drive ourselves, despite intravenous food, urban environments and train being readily available. Its not about need, but about want. If you can have anything, my bet is that a Dyson sphere makes more sense than Cyberpunk tech and eating protein goop. Although there is space enough on the sphere for people that prefer it, of course, which there no doubt will be.
- collaborative 5y agoIt's also conjecture that the more advanced a civ is the more energy it needs
- andai 5y agoA counterpoint is Buckminster Fuller's ephemeralization: over time we learn how to do more and more with less and less, until eventually, we can do everything with nothing. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephemeralization https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephemeralization
- erklik 5y ago> nothing Doesn't that violate cause and effect? i.e. if we can have a "result" without any "effort" then there was no cause for that result i.e. violating cause and effect.
- Apocryphon 5y agoAny sufficiently ultra-advanced technology is indistinguishable from miracles.
- erklik 5y ago> miracles Hmm. Magic and miracles are not the same. One is breaking some of the core laws of physics that hold true regardless of your "capabilities". I also don't really like that justification because it can essentially justify any sort of belief.
- Apocryphon 5y ago"There's no such thing as miracles, or the supernatural, only cutting-edge technology!"
- andai 5y agoI assumed he was observing that as technology improves, human effort asymptotically approaches zero. If it reached zero, I would be worried!